A small cargo of kauri gum arrived at Sydney in the schooner Brothers in 1815. The early traders exchanged nails and blankets for kits of surface gum collected by the Maoris. Edward Markham, walking from Hokianga to Kerikeri in 1834, saw lumps of kauri gum, and recorded in his Journal that “it requires so much oil to make it soft, so as to be able to pay the bottom of a Boat, or do the Outside of a House with it as renders it nearly useless”. Charles Darwin, writing about his visit to Waimate in 1835, said that kauri resin “is sold at a penny a pound to the Americans, but its use is kept secret”. It is claimed that James Busby and Gilbert Mair were the first to export gum to America about 1838. The Auckland firm of Brown and Campbell made early shipments to England (1844 or 1845). In 1848 kauri gum dissolved in “Oil of Wood” was mixed in paint – presumably for ships – at Hokianga. It was recognised overseas as a suitable resin for manufacture of a slow-drying varnish with a hard finish. In 1853, 829 tons of gum were exported, and over 4,000 tons, averaging £40 a ton, went overseas in 1870.